A Mind For Missions

A Mind for Missions: 10 Ways to Build Your World Vision

I have just read the book A Mind for Missions (1987), authored by Paul Borthwick (is/was the pastor for missions at Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA).

The stated purpose of the book is to help Christians enlarge their understanding, & subsequently their vision for missions to be more consistent with that of God’s vision and plan for redeeming people from all tribes, tongues, languages and nations.

He opens asking if you are a worldly Christian or a World Christian. A worldly Christian is indeed a Christian – saved by grace, but one who has misplaced priorities, one whose focus is preoccupied with self. In contrast, Borthwick states,

A world Christian breaks the mold of a self-centered way of thinking. A world Christian understands that Jesus calls us to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23) so that we might respond to a world of greater needs beyond ourselves.

He goes on to provide ten chapters – ten “Building Blocks” for developing a world view that lends itself to developing a world Christian, rather than a worldly Christian mindset and perspective of the world within which we live. The following is the ten blocks with a very brief summary of the blocks …

Scripture: Our God is a missionary God

Current Events: Because our world vision needs to be relevant to our world, we need to be aware of how God is working currently in our world, keeping up with current events helps us to do just that.

Prayer: Knowing God’s heart for missions (#1) and understanding the great needs in our world (#2) should drive us to our knees in prayer. “God is calling us to stand in the gap (Ezk 22:30) primarily as people of prayer.”

Reading: Reading about missions inspires and increases our zeal for missions. He recommends reading about the history of missions, missionary biographies, current issues in missions, topics related to cross-cultural understanding, etc… - Personal Note: I have been doing a lot of reading related to missions and this point can in no way be overstated. Reading about missions; be they biographies, histories, theology related, etc … inspires in ways I never dreamed it would. It has transformed my vision and interest drastically! READ!!!

Firsthand Experience: Kind of self-explanatory, but it is to experience life beyond our normal boundaries of experiences – meaning we need to experience other cultures, other beliefs, to become aware of needs unknown to us. He provides simple ideas like eating at a international restaurant (perhaps Indian???), visit an area of town known to have a concentration of a certain ethnicity of people (Visit “China Town”… ), get involved with internationals who live in your town, go worship with international believers in your city, have a foreign student live with your family, learn a foreign language, or actually spend time overseas (perhaps the best means)!

Fellowship: This is just a good recommendation for any Christian who struggles with selfishness … have a fellowship group who encourages you to think beyond yourself (Hebrews 3:13), in a manner specifically oriented towards missions!

Giving: This is the responsible stewarding of our time and money, an sacrificial outworking of our gratitude to God for his goodness to us. We can put these resources to use for the purposes of missions.

Meeting Missionaries: Be in contact with missionaries currently serving or those on furlough, which helps to build a correct image of missionaries rather than a distorted one (like I had for a long time). You can receive newsletters, write them letters, call them (it may be expensive, so plan it), pray for them, visit them, etc. Be with missionaries. Again, through my own encounters with missionaries through my church in Auburn, Lakeview Baptist, and through my parent’s church, SMIC, I have been in contact with many missionaries and it is always amazing to hear what God is doing and how He uses His servants.

Lifestyle Choices: If our hearts are geared to be world Christians, then the use of our resources will reflect this, as the use of our resources reflects our heart’s priorities (Matt 6:21) – which involves sacrifice, responsible stewarding of said resources. Having a simple out look can help us in this pursuit, & Borthwick states, “The simplest person is one who as one goal – to please Jesus Christ in everything.” There is a convicting, profound truth to this statement.

Other Input: We can make learning about the world a hobby of sorts; we can set resources like Operation World before us, leading us to prayer for the nations of the world. We can set globes and maps before us & train ourselves to see the globe & maps and pray. Etc…

These are the 10 “Building Blocks” Borthwick asserts that can help us grow and work toward becoming a world Christian. But he rightfully acknowledges that this is a lifelong pursuit, & that it takes diligence, perseverance, and most of all grace from God.